PRIMARY

How we’ll work

Embarking on Jungian based exploration is an adventure into your self. Like any adventure, it requires a certain level of commitment and there are bound to be highs and lows. At times it will be playful, at others heart-wrenchingly challenging.

Of course the journey of exploration of one’s inner world is completely unique and personal. No two journeys are the same.

BEFORE THE FIRST SESSION…

I will ask you to record a dream. A dream can be anything from a few words to any number of pages. Quantity isn’t important.

“But I don’t dream…?”

Many of us don’t remember our dreams, or only remember “nightmares.” Everyone dreams, but not everyone remembers. This is a completely individual phenomena. It can take time to begin remembering, but generally when prompted, some fragment of a dream pops into awareness.

A client might say, “Oh, I remember that I had a dream where I went to my mother’s house and saw a man with a black dog in the street.” Although this fragment may seem insignificant at face value, experience has shown me that it can be pregnant with meaning. By way of “associations” or “analysis”, which involves both client and counsellor interacting with the dream material or images, a layer of meaning is revealed that isn’t apparent if one treats the dream as a literal event or story.

In any event, no matter how short or seemingly insignificant a dream fragment is, it is important, especially if it is the FIRST dream.

IN THE FIRST SESSION…

We discuss why you are seeking counselling and cover some personal history. In most cases, personal history gathering is minimal. Most of us “know” our stories. It is the unconscious story, personal myth or meaning behind the story, that is important.

If you bring an initial dream, and most people seem to bring one, the dream will, in 99% of cases, begin to reveal the underlying issue(s) which are unknown to us. These issues or attitudes are unconscious, and yet these are the forces that map our lives; sort of like an invisible GPS that drives the car … often on autopilot. And usually they are the forces that bring us to seek help for our problems.

If I feel that other modalities may be of use (see “Modalities) in conjunction with the dream work, then we will discuss these as options.

If we both feel that we would like to pursue our exploration further then we arrange future sessions. Ideally once a week, 1 hour sessions, are suggested as a minimum.

The ultimate goal is to help you to become who and what you actually are … not who have been told to be. Neurosis and suffering arises when we split off from the identity that we were born with; because we perceive and fear that we will not be loved and cared for unless we become what someone else wants us to be.